Sepia Whiskey
by thatdrunkkid
Summary: A story based off White Wolf's World of Darkness; Mage: The Ascension. A post-war Earth, another technological jump. The date is 2030. Advanced technology being is used for terrorism, leaving mundane authorities in the dust. They have turned to question one of the few individuals with such technology. Thus Archmage Evelyn Dorose of the Aether Society is called for questioning.


**I'll be adding to/editing this document as I go along. Please let me know if you spot any typos that slipped through proof-reading!**

* * *

Sunlight filters through the leaves outside the windows of a well kept office. A detective sits on one of two sofas in the middle of the room, reading from a hovering display. A knock at the door signals the arrival of his guest.

"Come in!" He calls from his spot on the sofa, dismissing the hovering display with a wave. Before him stands a short woman in a fitted suit, her expression spoke of mild amusement. Behind her the two officers that were sent to retrieve her file in, their eyes fixed on their charge as she makes her way to the sofas.

"It's nice that you could join us today Ms. Dorose, please have a seat." The detective gestures to the sofa opposite him.

"You can cut the pleasantries detective. What do you require of me?" Ms. Dorose takes a seat. Crossing one leg over the other and leaning back comfortably with a smirk.

"Well. You are aware of why we've asked you to meet with us?"  
"Quite, you should already have my full testimony."

"We do, however we have some follow-up ques-"

"I could just tell you the whole story, detective. You colleague didn't seem to like that idea when I brought it up the first time. Having me return for additional questioning seems rather superfluous if you didn't feel you were missing something."

"Please let me remind you tha-"

"I'm a prime suspect, due to my direct involvement with the last two wars. Spare me the drivel inspector I'm conscious of your government's opinion of me. Haven't you finished reading Smith's report? He is the expert on people like me."

The detective sighed, and waved to the men standing by his door. As they exited, a small tray exits from the center of the coffee table and rises a couple inches above. Bearing whiskey, ice, and two glasses.

"Drinking? In the middle of the day?" Ms. Dorose lifts a hand, in one of the glasses trembles slightly before rising into the air, followed by ice and the bottle of whiskey.

The detective double takes, visibly surprised. "Yes...If your demeanor is any indication of how fruitful our questioning was then I'll likely have to hear the whole story." He watches her for a moment then he shakes his head. "Magic" He chuckles to himself and pours himself a glass.

"Ah, one thing before we begin detective." Dorose lets go of the glass she had just finished making, allowing it to hover in place. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small, flat box. She sets it on the table and taps it twice, a small holographic display pops up, displaying a timer with the word "record" in red letters above it. When she returns to her original position, her gaze narrows for a moment followed several electronic fizzles from various points in the room.

"I don't enjoy people listening in to my stories, but I'll gladly give you this recording when we're done. I have an image to keep up, being an oh so important public figure." With a sly wink, Ms Dorose grasps the floating glass and takes a sip of whiskey. She studies the glass for a moment, lost in thought. The detective notices her visibly relax her trademark expression of amusement absent.

"I'm..sorry. I didn't even-" The detective stammers, sitting up suddenly with an embarrassed.

"Realize they were there? Convenient, but you don't seem like the type of person to do such things except when necessary." She looks at him, her eyes curious, almost captivating. "And please detective, call me Evelyn."

* * *

The date is June 6th, 2030.

Recently, the meticulous progress of the world has been interrupted with the passing of a terrifying conflict dubbed The Flood of Seoul. The Flood of Seoul caused the technological level of the world to receive an unprecedented skyrocket, due to the release of advanced technologies previously assumed to only be in their infancy.

The Flood of Seoul: In 2026, a heavily mechanized blitzkrieg that swept through the barriers between North and South Korea, with the North storming through the combined forces of Korean and American States. Spearheading this offensive were five fully functioning combat mechs. At the time several countries had announced prototype "exo-suits" that were being tested for civilian construction, but no-one in the non-magic world had anything close to a working model for combat, until now. The North Korean offensive captured nearly half of South Korea in the course of a week, a shock to the world's nations. Naturally, the rest of the world sprang to into action, both magical and non-magical. Methods were devised to counter the Mechs, and United Nations forces were able to push back the hostile North back to their borders, ending the conflict in a stalemate.

During the Flood, several countries got their hands on those mechs that were damaged or disabled, and reverse engineered amazing bits of information out of the metal corpses. Things that most of the world had only dreamed of existing. Though the overall design was beyond anything most scientists could puzzle together. A dramatic updraft came following the war, as technological achievements were announced left and right and the world fell back into an uneasy peace.

Now, several terrorist groups have cropped up, using state of the art technology to make their demands. Thus the world turns their eyes to them, and move to get to the bottom of their backers.

However, before the flood of Seoul there had been a violent conflict hidden from the public eye. Aside from two large attacks on A war in the magical world had finally come to a close with the elimination of a powerful faction known to few as the "Technocracy". The Technocracy consisted of individuals who saw themselves not as mages, but as enlightened scientists and bringers of reason. Existing to impose order to a chaotic world through the careful guidance of technology and subversion of free will. A surreal time even for mages, as it probably wouldn't have happened without the insistence of a charismatic and determined few.

* * *

 **"Everything feels like yesterday. I can visualize everything perfectly, even though a haze still hangs heavy in those memories."**

 **"You fought in the Korean war?"**

 **"I did, but there was another before that. I believe the only part of it that broke the blackout was referred by your people as the S-T Attacks"**

 **"The terrorist attacks?"**

 **"I'll get to that."**

The year is 2018, Evelyn sits at a small workbench in a dark room. Before her, illuminated by a small desk lamp, are the few blueprints she could salvage from her safe box in the last chantry she resided in. It had been burned to the ground in what the media called a "drug raid". A small sliver of light from behind signals the door had opened, Evelyn looks over her shoulder to find one of the University professors poking his head in.

"Evelyn" He calls, stepping into the room and flicking on the light switch. Evelyn squints as the bright fluorescent flicker to life. Most of the rather large workshop is bare save for the middle, where scaffolding bearing various tools surrounded a rather odd looking machine.

"Professor Lee, how are you." She responded half heartedly, turning around in her desk chair.

"Fine thank you. I'm elated that you've decided to return to the university, would you like to join us for dinner tonight? I've noticed that you haven't left this workshop since you returned." He explains in a concerned tone, gesturing at the trash bin filled with empty noodle containers next to her desk.

"I, guess I should stretch my legs." Evelyn rises from her desk chair and rubs the dark circles around her eyes.

* * *

 **I'm mostly going to be posting snippets as I get them done, this story will be uploaded pretty piecemeal. Thank you for reading!**


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